Rabbi Schneider - The Final Battle is Coming
We're journeying together through the Holy Land. I'm gonna be preaching today from Israel, from the place described in the Bible as Armageddon, where the last war of the world will take place. Beloved, there's some deep things that we need to discover today as we dig into this subject. One of the things that we have to face is things are not gonna get better in the world before they get worse. In fact, the Bible tells us that things are gonna get so bad, if it wasn't for the grace of God, not even the elect would be able to be saved. As we journey today into the mystery that we call Armageddon, the purpose that God has for us is that you and I would wake up and prepare ourself for his return. See the truth is, is that Jesus is coming back soon, listen, and he's coming back for you and for me. Jesus said, behold, I come quickly to reward to each one according to what he's done. Get ready, beloved, Jesus is coming very, very soon.
Once again, beloved one, thank you for joining us today as we're journeying through the land of Israel. A little bit later in the day I'm going to be making Aliyah going up to Jerusalem. The word Aliyah means to go up, and Jerusalem is the city of the great King. It's the city of the north. And so from wherever you're coming from, if you're going to Jerusalem you're making Aliyah, you're going up; because Jerusalem is in the north, and Jerusalem is the most elevated city spiritually in the entire world. So we're on our way up to Jerusalem. We're making Aliyah. But along the way we stopped here. I'm at Megiddo, also known as Har-Magedon, better known to some of you as Armageddon. We know this to be the place where the great conflict on planet earth will take place right before Yeshua returns.
We read about it in the Book of Revelation. I'm gonna be reading now from Revelation, chapter 16, beginning there in verse number 13. Hear the Word of God. John says: And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God. Let me read it again. There are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. And then continuing: Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame. And they gathered then together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
I want to take this section of Scripture apart a little bit and give relevance to where we're at right now. The valley below, beloved, is where the Scriptures tell us that this final battle called Har-Magedon or Armageddon will take place. We just got done reading that the reason there's gonna be so much conflict that's gonna be centered here in the most valuable place of real estate on earth, the little land of Israel, is because there is demon spirits that are causing demonic hatred and are orchestrating this whole thing. Why have Jewish people been persecuted so terribly over the years? Why have they been so hated? Why have they been so misunderstood? There's some human reasons for that. But beyond the human reasons, beloved one, it's because the devil hates the Jewish people because they're God's first covenant people. And it's no mystery as to why the last great war on earth is gonna be centered right here in the land of Israel.
Listen again: I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. Frogs are a symbolic representation of demons, unclean spirits. ...For they are spirits of demons. Notice again we read when the plagues fall on planet earth during the Book of Revelation, earlier on when the seals are released and the plagues begin to fall on planet earth, one of the plagues is that frogs will cover the land. And the frogs again are unclean spirits. So, there just seems to be a correlation in Scripture with frogs representing unclean spirits. He continues in verse 14: for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world. And what's the purpose of these demons? What are they seducing the kings to do? Listen, to come against Israel, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. They have gathered them together in this place, in the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
I want you to know, beloved ones, it's so important that you side with God's heart to love Jewish people. Do you know that anti-Semitism in the world is growing today? Anti-Semitism is growing fiercely in Europe right now. We're seeing Nazi kind of propaganda, propa... being spread now through France and some of the other European nations. We see, for example, Israel being painted constantly in the news media, news media, as the bad guy when it comes to what is happening right now in the Middle East. They report every time somebody from the Palestinian side gets kills as the hugest atrocity, you know, that could ever happen. And yet when Israel suffers a loss it's like a small little bleep in the news. You don't feel the same emotion of the newscasters. It's constantly being portrayed as Israel's the big, bad bully. Israel is, is murdering their neighbors. Israel is using their force with, with, inordinately, that they're using too much force. It's never the other way around. It's never that Israel is constantly under attack.
There's all kinds of stabbings going on here right now in Jerusalem. I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to walk through the city freely because the Israel's enemies are disguising themselves and they're just running up to Jewish people, especially the religious Jews, and killing them and stabbing them. And so when Israeli police, when, when Israel, Israeli security, you know, kills somebody, it's not because they are bullying somebody. It's because they're being put in the position of having to defend themselves. Israel got the same thing when they put the wall up to protect themselves from the terrorists. Everyone said what a terrible thing Israel was doing by putting this wall up, this fence up to protect themselves. But do you know that since they put that fence up, the terrorist attacks have gone way down? They had to do it.
The point that I'm making, beloved, is that we read here in Revelation, chapter 16, that there are seducing spirits, they're called demon spirits, they're gathering the world against Israel and against the Jewish people. Why? Because the devil hates God. The devil knows that the Jewish people are precious to God. They're his first covenant people. They still have a remarkable destiny. And this land, this is, Jerusalem is called the city of the great King. Israel is elevated spiritually, beloved ones, above every place else on planet earth. God is connected to this land in a way that is unique, beloved on the sphere of the planet. And so of course the devil hates it. Of course the devil's gonna do everything he can to come against it to mar God's image, to mar God's people, to interrupt the covenant. So we find that once again, in Revelation, 16, all climaxing here. Verse 16 says these demon spirits have gathered the kings of the earth and their armies together in the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
Do you know that this city that we're in, this area has been re-built 25 times? Twenty-five times this tell, it's called a tell. A tell is a city that gets leveled and conquered and then another peoples comes and builds on top of it. This area that I'm standing in right now behind me, 25 times this area has been conquered and re-built. It's been a center of conflict. And beloved, this is gonna climax in Revelation, 16, where there is a last war that takes place. Now I believe that this is not just physical, but that it's spiritual; that there is an intensification, beloved ones, of spiritual conflict on planet earth. In fact, the end result of Armageddon is that if Jesus didn't step in, everything would have been destroyed. But Jesus steps in at the last minute to save his people.
The same thing is happening spiritually on earth right now. The conflict on earth is intensifying. We're seeing it intensify. We're seeing the combat between light and darkness growing stronger, beloved ones, each and every year. We're seeing the, the morality of, that our country and America's been built on, the Ten Commandments being eroded every year. There's a conflict that's growing. We've seen these things taking place. I'm speaking to the choir right now with many of you. Prayer removed from the school systems. The Ten Commandments removed from public places. And everything today is about political correctness. It seems today the highest virtue in America and the Western world is to just be tolerant and to be politically correct. But you know what? If you're gonna stand for God, if you're gonna stand for Messiah, if you're gonna stand for Jesus, you can't be politically correct because Jesus isn't politically correct. Jesus said, don't think I've come to bring peace; for I've not come to bring peace, I've come to bring a sword to separate a father from his son, a mother from the daughter.
You see, beloved ones, there is a growing conflict that's taking place on earth right now because of Messiah, and because, beloved ones, of his purpose. And I want to encourage you to get ready for what's coming down the pipe. It's gonna get worse before it gets better. things are not, beloved, just, some people believe that the morality of the world, and the things that we're facing right now is just like a pendulum. They believe, you know, it goes this way and then something comes along and corrects it so it swings back to the middle. Or it goes this way and then some type of self-correction comes and it swings back. But I want you to hear, the trajectory that this world is on, beloved, it's not like a pendulum, that it's this direction now but it's gonna self-correct and come back to the middle. No, we are on a trajectory into conflict. It's gonna all end right here at Armageddon. We are on a trajectory of conflict. It's not gonna get better. It's gonna get worse.
Paul said, know this, Paul said, in the last days difficult times will come; for men will become lovers of self rather than lovers of God; boastful, arrogant, without restraint. And Paul goes on to describe how wicked, how evil, how hard society is gonna become, how materialistic it's gonna become. He doesn't say that it's gonna get bad, but then it's gonna self-correct and it's gonna get bad, and then self-correct again. No, he tells us it's on a trajectory into darkness. It's on a trajectory into difficulty; that times are gonna get worse. Paul said, know this, difficult times will come. Jesus, in Matthew, 24, when the disciples asked him, they said Lord, when will these things be? When will be the signs of your coming?
And Jesus began to talk to them about what has to happen on planet earth before he comes. He said, nation will rise against nation. Kingdom will rise against kingdom. There will be false Christs, false teachers, false Messiahs. He said, this is just the beginning. This is just the birth pang. This is just the beginning of the tribulation. You haven't even entered into the Great Tribulation. Jesus said the Great Tribulation is gonna be so horrendous that unless God intervened, he said, not even the elect would come out of it saved. It's gonna be so demonic. Remember these spirits that we just read about in Revelation, 16, they're deceiving spirits. Jesus said during the Great Tribulation the deception would be so great. There would be so many false signs taking place. Listen here, once again, in Revelation, 16. What do these demon spirits do that are bringing people towards this great battle? They are spirits, in Revelation, 16:14, talking about the war leading out to Armageddon. They are spirits of demons, listen now, performing signs, false miracles, false phenomena, supernatural things, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them.
Beloved, there is gonna be a lot of supernatural activity taking place around the world as we move deeper into darkness. But just because something is supernatural doesn't mean it's God. You see, people have opened up their minds so much their brains are falling out. And that's one of the biggest dangers, as a note of application for those of you that love Jesus, that love God, are following him, you've experienced the supernatural in your life at some level. Here is the biggest mistake one can make. And I made this mistake early on, 25 years ago when I began to experience the supernatural. Here's what happened to me. I said I know that I'm hearing from God because this thing that the Lord showed me, it just happened. But here's the mistake I made; that because I was experiencing the supernatural and because I knew I was hearing from God, I made the mistake of thinking everything that I was hearing was from God, and all the supernatural phenomenon around me were from God.
I had to learn a hard lesson. I fell on my face. I was sincere. I was sincere. I was going after God. But I didn't have discernment. You see, that's what's going on in Revelation. These kings of the earth, they don't have discernment. These demons that are deceiving them, they don't know that they're demons. They're just being deceived, beloved, by the false seduction of the evil spirits and by the supernatural phenomenon that the evil spirits are performing around them. By seduction I'm not talking about sexual seduction. I mean that evil spirits appear as angels of light and they seduce people into, one person has described it, a beautiful darkness; that the darkness is made to appear beautiful. But it's not, it's evil. Get ready, beloved. Deception on the earth is increasing. You need to be grounded in the Word of God as I need to be grounded in the Word of God so that there's some type of supernatural sign that happens in our life that doesn't line up with the Word and needs to be rejected.
I know precious brothers and sisters that love God so much, and let's say for example I know of a precious brother, he was looking for a mate. He wanted to get married. And there was a supernatural sign that happened in his life around a certain girl. He wasn't married yet. A supernatural sign happened in his life around a certain girl. Now everyone was telling him, yep, that's God, that's God. That would, I love this brother so much and I support him in so many things, but that was one thing I couldn't support him in because when he gave me all the information, who this girl was, what her lifestyle was at the particular time that this incident happened, where she was in life, I said, I just, you know, I said my son in the Lord, I just can't go there with you. But he said, but there's been so many supernatural signs that have happened to confirm that this is God's voice, you know.
I turn the radio on at a certain time, and it was, you know, and something happened as he was listening to the radio that he thought confirmed that this woman was to be his wife. And you know, I could go on and on. All these supernatural phenomenon that seemed like they were way more than coincidences, he took them as confirmation from God that this woman was to be his wife. And for over a year he was hanging on to this thing. And he was missing out on other things in life because he had been deceived by a seducing spirit. He was a sincere brother. He is a sincere brother, loves God, going after God, but didn't have discernment about this. I want you to know, beloved one, you and I need to pray for discernment. These kings of the earth had no discernment, and what happened? They found themselves aligning their hearts against God's people, and against his covenant. And when Jesus returned they were destroyed.
Father, right now I just bless my beloved audience that's watching right now. They love you, Father God. They want your best. They believe in the Holy Spirit. And Father, when we believe in the Holy Spirit we're open to the supernatural. But Father, we pray that we will receive nothing that's not from the Holy Spirit; Father, that you will put a guard around us; Father, guards on our ears and on our eyes that no deceptive spirit will get in and take us off track, in Jesus's name.
I want you to know, Father is faithful to guard that which you've committed to him against that day. And I also want to close today, beloved ones, by saying this. The Bible says that the kings of the world are gonna gather against God and against his Christ in this place; that Jesus is gonna break in in the midst of that and destroy those that have come against his people, Israel his chosen people. Some of you may have been taught that the Jewish people, that Israel, is no longer God's chosen people. Some of you have been taught that the Church has replaced Israel. You've been taught that because the Jewish people rejected Jesus, God rejected them and that the promises that once belonged to Israel have now been given to the Church. I want you to hear me clearly, that's a lie. It's called replacement theology. The Bible says that the gifts and calling of God upon the Israelites and the Jewish people are irrevocable.
The time is coming where there's gonna be a mass turning to Jesus from the nation of Israel. It's already happening. It's already happening exponentially. The Church in Israel, beloved, Jewish people in Israel are coming to faith. They're coming to faith quickly. It's accelerating and it's gonna keep accelerating. And as Jewish people are coming to faith, the Bible tells us it's gonna be life from the dead for the entire Church, and their coming to faith is gonna usher in the return of the Lord.
I want to challenge you, side with God's heart for the Jewish people. Stand with Israel as God stands with Israel. The Bible tells us in the Book of Zechariah that when God breaks up this great battle, he's gonna destroy the nations that came against Israel. But there's gonna be people from all the nations of the world that didn't come against Israel. In other words, the nation or the king of that country may have come against Israel, but there's people in that country that said no, I'm not going with this political correct way in my country. I'm not gonna side against Israel. I believe in the Word of God. I believe in God's love for the Jewish people. I'm gonna stand with Israel. I'm gonna stand with the Jewish people.
And the Bible tells us that these that stood with God when the rest of the world came against Israel and the Jewish people, that when Jesus returns, he's gonna destroy those that went against his people, but those that sided with him, Jesus said, they're gonna be left and they're gonna worship him every year towards Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Beloved, broad and wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that take it. But straight and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. I declare over your life, you're gonna be one of the few that finds it. God loves you. Be strong. Be bold. Stand with Israel and stand with his chosen people. I love you today. This is Rabbi Schneider on behalf of the Lord saying to you, God bless you and Shalom.